Post navigation

Though a lot of would-be investors are scared off by it, investing in pre-construction property can be a very worthwhile move. It will enable you to start a healthy real estate investment at a tiny fraction of the cost of a completed property, and in a lot of areas, a piece of real estate will appreciate greatly before the project is actually completed. Furthermore, preconstruction real estate enables you to get a great deal on a property if you’re planning on living in it in the future. If you’re looking to reap the rewards of a preconstruction investment, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about it. Here’s a guide to making your investment and avoiding the potential slip-ups along the way.

Laying the Groundwork

The first step in making a smart preconstruction investment is researching and comparing different kinds of properties. When investing in preconstruction real estate, you’ll have a range of options to choose from. Properties may be totally undeveloped, known as “raw” land, without any kind of planning or improvements done by the owner. Develop-owned properties, on the other hand, may be fully planned or zoned, with utilities and streets already installed. Further properties may already be slated for construction in these cases. Generally, the less developed the land is, the cheaper it will be, but cheaper lots can come with a range of complications. You’ll need to make sure that it’s all surveyed properly, work out local regulations, and look into any kind of crime that’s been reported in the area. The cost of property generally increases with each new phase of the development, so you’ll need to find a good balance between affordability and convenience.

It’s important to research and understand why developers are selling preconstruction real estate. If the profits are so much better after construction is completed, then why would they sell earlier? Preconstruction property isn’t exactly a frivolous purchase, so it’s important to find out why it’s being sold. Sometimes, construction firms need a quick injection of cash in order to complete a project on time, and selling preconstruction is an effective way of doing this. In other cases, they may need to have outside investors in order to get approved for a loan.

Having gathered this information, the next important step is looking into your competition. If you want to invest in a hot piece of property in an up-and-coming area, it may not be as affordable as you thought when you first considered going with the preconstruction route. Other investors and house “flippers” will have been monitoring the market for years, waiting for the most valuable preconstruction projects to come along. While this puts another obstacle in your way, competition from more seasoned property investors is usually a good sign that the project is worth a look. The amount of competition will depend largely on the size of a development, and the use it’s intended for. A single, residential lot is going to be significantly cheaper than developments for offices, apartment buildings and so on.

Finding a Property

Now that you’ve got a rough structure to your plans, it’s time to take some steps towards actually purchasing a property. First off, you need to find a local realtor. There are some agents who actually specialize in preconstruction property, who will be able to help you with going over house plans and organizing meetings with builders. If you’re already pretty savvy with navigating contracts and listings, you may be able to do a big part of this on your own. However, this is largely a cost-cutting step, that may or may not pay off in the long run.

Next up, you need to look for some phase 1 pricing. The less you pay for the preconstruction property, the greater your profit margin will be once the actual construction is finished. The first phase of selling is invariably the cheapest when it comes to preconstruction investment. However, it also carries a greater degree of risk. When these properties first hit the market, it’s much more difficult to accurately say whether the project will be completed on time, if at all!

Zoning restrictions are another important thing to look into when you’re pinning down the property you want to invest in. Before you sign any dotted lines, you need to ensure that it can be used for what you’re intending. Ask the agent about any relevant zoning restrictions, and land use laws tied to the property. They may not always fit in with your plans. If the agent seems unsure about any aspects of the zoning laws, get into contact with the local government and ask them directly. You’d be surprised at the amount of active real estate agents who aren’t up to scratch with these kinds of regulations. Even if a neighboring property has some ongoing construction on it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the land you’ve got your eye on can be used for the same purpose. Make sure you’re always checking the relevant zoning laws before you go any further with the purchase.

While your estate agent will have done a lot of research into the area, and passed this knowledge onto you, it’s important to go over their head and do a little detective work of your own. On the surface, agents will be doing their best to find the right property for your needs. Having said that, they get paid on commission, whether they close a sale later in the day or a year later. Go out of your way to make sure they’re not sugar-coating any relevant details about the area. Look at some investor’s journals covering the area, or contact local businesses, asking if the area is still growing at a healthy rate.

During the property search, be sure to give yourself a lot of options. Any estate agent you’re in contact with will want to close the deal as soon as possible. You may only get a few days to come to a decision. Having said that, it’s important to make it clear to the agents that you want to have at least two preconstruction properties to choose from when it comes to decision day. This will give you a little more flexibility to weigh the up-front costs against the prospective long-term returns.

Making the Purchase

Next, we have the final stage of the process: actually making the purchase. Start by making your intentions known to the owners. The first few months of the pre-selling stage consists of a reservation stage. This is when you should sign up to the project you’ve decided on, and receive a contract from the property developer.

Next, take steps to identify the ideal end-user of the property you’ve settled on. As an investor, you’ll be purchasing the preconstruction property with the goal of reselling or renting the property to an end user. In order to make sure you get the best possible return on investment, you’ll need to identify the perfect end user, and then focus all your choices and selling efforts on that user. They may be vacation renters, permanent renters, homebuyers, or even other investors. Before you make that final decision, make sure that there’s a decent-sized local market of your ideal end user. Then, do some research on the availability of similar properties in the same area. If there are too few people in your ideal end user demographic, or too many similar properties, it can be very difficult to sell the property or find tenants later on.

Once you’ve established the suitability of your choice, the next thing to do is secure financing. The way you go about financing your investment property can vary a lot depending on the developer’s preferences and the unique attributes of the property itself. However, a typical deal will start with a down payment of 5 to 10 percent of the purchase. The entire balance, or at least a decent proportion of it, will then be due when construction is actually completed. There are some investors who will opt to flip the property before the total amount is actually due, betting on the fact that the value would have gone up significantly before this. Others will pay for the property and then hold it until a buyer can be found who will pay a good price. Whatever the case, you’ll need to source some capital for the down payment. This is typically paid for with the investor’s own money, as getting a loan for any property, let alone preconstruction property, can be extremely difficult. Raw land is typically more expensive. For this kind of investment, you’ll usually need to come up with about 25 percent as a down payment instead. Finding a creditor can be challenging, but mortgage brokers can help to pin down affordable land purchase loans.

If you’ve heard a lot of success stories surrounding preconstruction real estate, then I hope this post has helped you formulate a plan for moving forward. Preconstruction investing can be a lot to wrap your head around, but the rewards can be well worth it!

Now, there’s a lot to feel good about in the 21st century. We have more comforts than ever before. We have more options than ever before. Essentially, life has never been as good for mankind as it is right now. Only, it doesn’t always feel that way. Even if we have, on paper, “everything we want”, it doesn’t stop us from sometimes being overwhelmed by the pressure of owning a home. Sometimes we look and think, ‘I feel a bit trapped by this life, not more free, as I was supposed to’. If that sounds like you, then there’s good news: you don’t have to live that way. Here’s how to break out of the rut and gain control of your life again.

Being Honest

Things have a habit of creeping up on us, and we’re not always completely certain from where negative feelings come from. Sometimes we can shoot in directions that are way off target, blaming unrelated factors for our unhappiness. But sometimes the truth is undeniable: our home is causing us misery. We might be paying too much money for a house that doesn’t quite feel like home, or you might just feel too trapped by an abode that doesn’t meet your requirements. Whatever it is, at some stage you’ll need to be honest with yourself and admit: this home is making me unhappy.

Making Changes

It is all too easy for us to fall into a habit of feeling “caged” by our house. If it’s not in our own design or is too closed in, then the problem only builds on top of itself. We begin to see only the flaws, and the claustrophobic feeling becomes more and more intense. If this happens, then there’s no point in being unhappy. Make the changes that you need to make. You can brighten up any room with a lick of paint and a change in interior decor. It might just be that your house isn’t as bad as you thought, it’s just suffering from the wrong style.

Moving On

But then, sometimes you just know that the house is not where you want to be for the foreseeable future. If you know that in your heart of hearts it isn’t the right place for you, then it might be time to sell up and move on. For a quick sell, look at services like http://www.cashoffersdallas.com/ and reclaim your life without the conventional hassle and stress of selling your home. Like with most bad things in life, it’s sometimes right just to cut the cord and move on with your life.

Change Your Mind

If you’re not in a position to change your house or move out, then you could try another approach: changing your mind. Instead of seeing your home as a place that defines you, think of it as a place where you lay your head. There’s every chance that “comfort”, as we think of it, is overrated. Your home can instead just revert to its original function: shelter from the elements!

If you care about others and you want to make a difference, then looking at providing emergency care to those who need it most is a natural fit. It’s a demanding job, it can be both emotionally and physically tough. But for those dedicated, that’s a price worth paying. So, what do you need to do to be the help on the way?

Get your basic training

An emergency medical technician might not need the full trip to medical school, but don’t doubt that you’re going to have to get some further education. Basic training can take anywhere from six months to two years to complete, based on where you take it. Some, for instance, will teach you CPR amongst the coursework and the hands-on training on operating field equipment like strobe lights and immobilization gear. With others, you might be required to have prior knowledge and qualifications in basic first aid. EMT training is available at a broad spectrum of educational organizations, from universities to city colleges.

Get certified

To get a career as an EMT, you have to get certified. Depending on which state you’re in, this means taking either a state or national licensing exam. It’s not just the kind of exam you can cram for then forget, either. To keep working as a paramedic, you will be required to take the certification exam again every two years. But that doesn’t mean if you fail once that the door is closed. In most states, you get three attempts before you might be asked to take a remedial course to ensure you’re ready.

Finding work experience

In a lot of industries, getting work experience can be a difficulty. However, if you contact local crews while you’re in the middle of your education, many of them will get the ball rolling early on your end. That way, you can ensure that there is work experience waiting for you when you get certified. That experience is essential. You might be able to demonstrate that you have the skills necessary, but then you have to show that you’re willing and able to work in one of the busiest fields in the world of healthcare.

Keep educating

You’re going to have to get used to dusting the books off as an EMT. Not only because you have to take the recertification exam so often, but also because there are a lot of ways you can further specialize your career with education and training that helps you work in specific niches. You can specialize in fields like trauma management, treating patients who need extra or specific forms of care from the average, the treatment of cardiac emergencies and the like. If you want your career to go further, you have to be prepared to invest the effort and time in building your skillset.

The work of a paramedic can lead to an incredibly broad and varied career. Whether you’re on the road or facilitating those doing great work as a station manager of a Director of Operations, every single person in those services is needed. If you really want to become a paramedic, now is the time.